El Primer Dia

Hoy es 15 de septiembre de 2008, y hoy ha sido el primer dia del contrato de Fulbright.

After an extended summer vacation (Broward County teachers returned on August 11th), I departed from the Chueca metro station - at the foot of my building - at 7:45 a.m. to brave my first day as a conversation auxiliary at CEIP Manuel Nunez de Arenas in Getafe.  As the Fulbright Fellowship requires, I began my contract with the students on the first day of school.  My fellow auxiliaries, however, will start on October first.  Therefore, I embarked on this adventure alone today.

Having made a visit to my school last week, I felt comfortable entering the situation today. I received a warm, boisterous greeting and two kisses from most teachers.  They demonstrated their desire to practice and display their English skills immediately.  "My name is..." replaced "Me llamo."  By American standards, I found this enchanting staff of teachers quite disorganized.  (Former Fulbrighters actually warned me in advance so it did not come as a surprise!)  Despite the apparent disorganization, the day ran smoothly, and the kids enjoyed themselves. 

In the morning, Paqui (a delightful English teacher) showed me the locations of my various classrooms.  Prior to entering the building with the students, she introduced me to a couple of year 4 girls.  Stunned, I received a kiss on each cheek upon introduction.  Wow!  What a difference from the states in acceptable interaction with students!  Oh, teachers also go by their first names.

I began my day with Fatima, year 1.  I will assist with English and science instruction.  Next, I supervised the infantiles (preschoolers) during recreo (RECESS).  Teachers take on this responsibility once a week in order to receive a reduced lunch price daily.  Good deal!  After recreo, I joined Charo with year 4 students.  The students each introduced themselves, "Hi Sally.  My name is... Nice to meet you!"  Que carino!  Charo then asked me to show Florida on a map and describe my life there.  The children practiced their English by asking me questions such as "What is your favorite color?" and "Do you have sisters and brothers?"  We also shared about our summer vacations.  I returned to Fatima's year one class for the remainder of the day where I mostly observed.  I met Matilde and Tatiana, the SUPER nice special education teachers, who each gave me their cell phone numbers right away in case I have any problems.  When I shared my photo book of my class at Tradewinds with Paqui and Juani (another awesome English teacher), they both exclaimed, "I want Sally in my class!"  Truthfully, I want to assist in their classes too!  We will see...  During the months of September and June, I only work until one o'clock I learned.  Sorry, am I on holiday?

Well, Graeham will stay one more night with me before she can move into her piso tomorrow.  Both interested in language courses, we scouted out C.E.E. Idiomas near Gran Via (about a 10 minute walk from my place).  Right away, we took a placement evaluation, had it graded, and paid 25 Euros to matriculate into a class.   Admittedly, I will start at Level 3 (of 8), and I am rather disappointed.  I felt more confident in my ability!  Vale, I know I will learn very much, and I am very excited to start class on October 2nd!  We cooked a most random dinner: fried egg sandwiches with tomato and cheese, cooked spinach, orange juice.  How Spanish! 

I owe many updates from the first two weeks of my adventures in Spain (some of the stories might shock you!), and I promise many pictures including ones of my incredible estudio en Chueca!  Now though, I bid you adieu with many besos!